Our Govt’ll Have A Human Face – Itubo

I am comrade Chief Mrs. Beatrice Otubo. I come from this state and married in this state. Actually I decided to come into this contest because I saw the menace of Rivers people. Based on that I was driven by passion to come and see how we can salvage the state.
When I was growing up as a child, I knew that Rivers State used to be one of the frontline states. You go to Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout, there were so many industries everywhere. Today, what do we have? We just have churches and few banks there. That is exactly why we have come to say we want to rescue, we want to take back this state and see how we can bring about development and put Rivers State in the comity of states where a Rivers child, a Rivers man or woman will be proud to say I am a Rivers citizen.
I have what it takes and the requisite knowledge, we have the political will; we have the boldness to take Rivers State to the next level where every Rivers person can be very very happy to say I am a Rivers person. And we are not actually going to develop Rivers State alone; we are going to accommodate non-indigenes who are living in the state. The Rivers State Government under my watch shall be gender sensitive. We will have affirmative action for women, people living with disabilities, non-indigenes and the people that are vulnerable. And so we have a human face and we are going to build Rivers State with passion. We are not coming to rule Rivers State. We are coming to lead Rivers State to its destination that all of us desire that Rivers State should be. That is exactly what we have come to do. And we are asking for the support and mandate of Rivers State. But then, I want to add that peace is priceless. And I want to also promise and pledge here today that I will never indulge in anything that will breach the peace. I will never encourage my followers to also indulge in any activities or actions that will bring about breach of peace. We shall be law abiding and we shall do anything within the ambits of the law. God bless you.
Job Creation and Poverty Alleviation.
At creation, Rivers State had Eastern Enamel Ware, West African Glass Industry, Pabod Supplies, Amalgamated Distilleries among other industrial entities in the industrial sector. Rivers State invested in oil palm, School-to-Land and the Delta Rubber Company recorded successes. In the 1990s, Risonpalm had 56,000 hectares of fully developed palm plantation and created almost 80,000 jobs in Rivers State. These are just some of the strides Rivers State previously made. Today, however, they have several uncompleted projects in Rivers State that seem to continually distort the people’s perception of government development style in the state. One of such is the monorail project. Majority of Rivers people feel that funds have been misplaced.
Plans To Industrialise the State and the Monorail Project
Let me start from the last question. The steps we will take regarding ongoing projects; we are going to continue with the ones that we feel that are very relevant to the people of Rivers State. Our projects are going to be people-based and we are going to also have needs assessment and after that we will begin to embark on projects.
On the issue of industrialization of our moribund industries, we think we have a blueprint and in that blueprint we are going to go into revitalization of these industries. We are going to enter into PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) and we are going to attract foreign investors into this state. But first of all, we will ensure that there is security. Nobody wants to put his or her money in a place where it is not safe. How are we going to be about that? We want to integrate our traditional stools into the security architecture of the state. These people know the criminal elements in the society. We intend to also have monthly reports from them to see how we can be able to come together.
And then when that is done we will begin to go out. We will go out and partner with NOA, National Orientation Agency, to begin to imbibe that discipline that the Rivers boy, Rivers girl, Rivers man, Rivers woman is known for. When we have been able to win their confidence, we will begin to go out to see how we can begin to rewrite the scripts.
The ones you have mentioned are even there. The recent one, the syringe company at Obiri Ikwerre is moribund. The essence of it was that it would supply syringes to hospitals within Rivers State and even outside and at a time we would begin to export syringes to neighbouring countries. But all that is gone. Are we talking about the Songhai Farms? Are we talking of so many other things, the Okomoko Rubber factory? We are going to make deliberate effort to see how we can begin to revitalise these moribund industries.
Aside that, we are also going to ensure that we go into the blue economy. We have to see how we can secure our waterways and our environment. And by so doing, we will able to move on and carry everybody along. Mostly we are going to partner Rafina. We are going to partner Meka and from there we are going to look around, look for foreign investors who will come when we have secured everywhere.
Plans to reduce poverty and address unemployment
Unemployment issues are front burners and are a priority. And we intend to go into the local governments. We have a development plan that we call MIC, Manpower Incubation Centres. And at the end of the day we are going to train people on how to prepare their curricula vitae on how to write applications and all that.
And also we are going to ensure that all vocational institutions are put in place so that they can be able to begin to upgrade our curriculums such that we will have employment certificates. What we have is that people carry about certificates but are not employable. When they get these certificates, they will be equipped.
And outside that we are going to make conscious efforts to see how we can stop leakages here and there even in government. If you go to the education sector, there is nothing to write home about. No teachers, no other supporting staff. When you go to the health centre, the same thing. You go to the main civil service, there is nothing to write home about. So, how shall we block leakages? Once we block these leakages we can be able to gather enough resources to enable us achieve what we intend to achieve.
On Multiple Taxation And Creating A Balance Between Improving Internally Generated Revenue and Creating A Better Environment For Businesses
What we ought to do first and foremost is to streamline taxes. And when taxes are streamlined, we would be able to know which industries are taxable, and which are not. All over the globe, there are industries that you give tax rebates, there are others that you go headlong to tax. But before then, we must ensure that we have a single treasury account. Nobody will be going jumping in and out of Hilux lorry to harass companies and also begin to do things the way that is uncomely. We are going to have a very civil state, where we employ credible people to do certain jobs. We are not just going to throw around things because they are political aides, they are supporters and then you begin to put square pegs in round holes. No. We are not going to do that.
And so, we are going to consciously begin to put in place measures that will begin to supervise itself and see how we can come out with this single treasury account system. And of course, when people are overtaxed the tendency is that they will run away from the place because you are taxing them and they are not making that profit.
And how do we intend to go about that? We will also make the environment conducive. I will ensure that there is security. When there is security, and then there is power, and people have the confidence in the system, of course, when you give them what to do, the system will also reply back these taxes. Sometimes, people evade taxes because they feel that what they are paying for they are not seeing any dividend.
There was a time, for example, NEPA people came to my neighbourhood and they were almost lynched. They don’t bring this light and at the end of the day you want people to pay for services not rendered? And so we are saying before we can be able to tax people we must also provide what we ought to provide as a government. And when that comes of course, willingly, they have that confidence in the system, they will willingly pay their taxes.
And of course, we are not going to overbloat taxes because that is another sure bet of making people to leave the state. So, while we are going to be reasonable, do tax assessment and then tax people accordingly. And of course, you will see that the system will begin to flow, then the resources will come and the state will flourish. Of course, under our watch this state will become Dubai of Nigeria.
What are those conscious measures you plan to put in place to do this?
We are going to ensure like I said earlier that we put in place people that would go and do the assessments of these industries and all others. There are some industries that are so essential that you don’t need to overtax them like people that are supplying medical equipment and all that. There is a way you tax them and they would leave the state. And when they leave the state there will be medical tourism. And that will also be draining the state of its resources.
Therefore we are going to look at it and then put them pari pasu and see how we can be able to tax people in modest ways, in ways they can begin to pay seamlessly and then at the end of the day we would all have and it will be better for everybody because by the time you begin to overtax people and they don’t pay at all at all they evade taxes. Then of course, the state will be losing revenue and at the end of the day the aim of your wanting to tax people multiple you will not be able to achieve it. So, we are going to ensure that we are going to put in place seamless effort where people, responsible citizens would go and do these assessments and then we begin to tax people accordingly.